


A Fair Day For Fun

by Senigata



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26311846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senigata/pseuds/Senigata
Summary: The sun was shining brightly, not a single cloud was in the sky. What better day than to enjoy your day off with your family, right?
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	A Fair Day For Fun

**A Fair Day For Fun**

It was a beautiful morning. Not a single cloud marred the blue sky and the sun was rising ever higher above the city of Edge, its rays traveling far and wide to wake up even the late sleepers.

Among those, two children living at the 7th Heaven bar were starting to stir from their slumber.

A groan escaped Marlene, her brain shifting back and forth between sleep and wakefulness, a fierce battle between her mind knowing she should be getting up and her body asking for just five more minutes.

It looked like her body was winning out, when a sudden spark of realization what today was gave her mind that necessary edge to emerge victorious.

Today was Cloud's day off!

Truly awake now, Marlene all but jumped out of her bed to run over to Denzel, who was slowly stirring awake himself. Not fast enough for Marlene though.

"Denzel, wake up! Wake up!" she called out to him, gently shaking him

"..ve more minutes," he mumbled, turning over to face the other side. But Marlene wasn't so easily deterred, instead climbing on top of his bed and continuing to shake him. When that didn't work, she leaned over him, lips hovering over his ear.

"WAKE UP!"

Denzel awoke with a startled shout, almost smacking her in the head with his own if not for her jumping out of the way. His hand went to his ear, glaring at her as the last traces of sleep vanished from his eyes.

"Are you crazy!?" he asked, rubbing his ear while she laughed. "What was that for!?"

"No time to be asleep. Did you forget what today is?"

He looked at her, face scrunched up in confusion before his eyes widened as realization hit him. "Cloud's day off..."

Marlene nodded in excitement.

His ear all but forgotten, Denzel scrambled out of his bed and together the two kids left their room and ran downstairs to find...nothing?

"Where are they?" Denzel asked. Usually, Cloud and Tifa were the first ones awake.

"Maybe still asleep?"

The two kids shared a look, then ran back up towards Cloud and Tifa's room, their feet pounding on the steps and floor. Arriving at their door, they burst inside to, indeed, find both adults still very much asleep.

Marlene walked over to Tifa, who was the closest to the door, and reached a hand out to shake a bare shoulder.

"Tifa?" Another shake. "Tifa!"

"Mmm," Tifa groaned. "Just a little longer..."

After having mumbled that, she rolled onto her side, arm moving to drape over Cloud while presenting her bare back to them. Marlene turned to Denzel, who shrugged.

They must have worked till very late.

"And what now?" Marlene asked after they left the bedroom again.

"Dunno." He shrugged. "Guess we have to make breakfast?"

"Oh!" Marlene clapped her hands once. "Let's make pancakes. I bet they're going to love it!"

"Hmm." He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side in thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay!"

Together, the kids headed back downstairs into the bar's kitchen.

"We need a bowl, flour, eggs, milk, baking powder...uh, butter..." She tapped her chin. "... sugar and salt!"

"Gotcha," Denzel replied, proceeding to gather what she just listed. The bowl was easy enough, as were the milk and eggs. But to get the baking powder and flour, as well as the salt and sugar, he had to employ the help of one of the chairs around the bar.

But that was working in their favor, as otherwise, Marlene would have had a problem reaching the stovetop.

There was one tiny problem though.

"No butter."

"Let's take the buttermilk then," Marlene said. "It has butter in it, right?"

Denzel ran a hand through his shaggier than usual hair. "I guess?"

He grabbed the milk and put it back into the fridge, switching for the buttermilk.

"So what now?" he asked, placing it on the counter.

"We have to mix the flour and baking powder together with the salt and sugar," Marlene explained and climbed on top of the chair. She grabbed the pack of flour, opening it and coughing a bit at the small cloud forming in front of her, before filling the bowl with a generous amount, not paying any heed to the fact that she was also covering herself with it. She did the same with the baking powder.

"Can you give me a spoon?"

"Sure!"

Sticking out her tongue in concentration, she carefully measured the sugar just like how she had seen Tifa do many times. Unlike Tifa though, Marlene left a trail of crystalline sweetness all over the counter as she added it to the mix.

Next came the salt, with about the same results.

"You're pretty good at this," Denzel commented while she took an egg and carefully placed her fingers on the shell. Carefully, she applied pressure to break it—

Denzel sneezed

-and promptly squashed it instead, splattering herself and the counter with egg yolk.

"Denzel!" She glared at him, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"What?!"

"Look at this mess. The egg's everywhere!"

"Let's just clean up afterwards," Denzel said and grabbed another egg that he handed to her.

"Fine."

This time Marlene managed to open the egg and pour its contents into the mix, discarding the eggshells to the side before adding the milk.

"Now hand me the whisk."

"The what?"

"That loopy thingy."

He opened one of the drawers and looked through it, closing it once more when he didn't find anything loopy looking, then opened the one next to it.

"This one?" he asked, pulling out the whisk that she had seen Tifa use many times.

"Yes!" reaching out, she grabbed it and began to stir the contents of the bowl. While she worked on the batter, Denzel took one of the frying pans hanging on the wall and put it on top of the stove.

Neither of them noticed the pieces of eggshell that were being mixed into the batter.

Once it was sufficiently done, as far as the two kids could tell anyway, they turned on the stove. After waiting for a bit, Marlene took the batter and poured it into the pan.

The hissing of the frying batter pervaded the air, masking the sound of soft footsteps as they made their way downstairs.

"Marlene, Denzel? What's that sme—" Tifa's voice came to an abrupt halt as she stepped into the kitchen, dressed in a large t-shirt. "What are you doing!?"

"Pancakes," Denzel said matter of factly.

"You were still asleep, so we thought we could make breakfast," Marlene explained as Tifa all but jumped between them, lifting Marlene out of the chair and placing her on the ground next to Denzel while pushing the chair away with one foot.

An odd mixture of pride, worry, and anger hushed over Tifa's face before she pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. Marlene and Denzel shared a look.

"Are you mad?" Marlene asked.

Tifa shook her head, her tousled hair moving with the motion. Turning her attention to the stove, she looked at the frying pan and almost instantly grabbed it. "You forgot the oil," she told them.

"Oh..."

After releasing a breath, Tifa put the pan away for a moment and faced them again, leaning down to be at eye level with them. Marlene and Denzel on the other hand dropped their gazes down to the ground, only raising them again when instead of a scolding a hand was placed on each of their heads.

"Why don't you two let me take over and go wash up?" Tifa asked with one of her smiles. She released a laugh as she brushed some flour off Marlene's cheek. "Especially you, young lady!"

With a huge grin on each of their faces, Marlene and Denzel turned on their heels and ran upstairs.

"No running on the stairs!" Tifa called after them, dipping a finger into the batter to taste test. "...weird."

Inside the bathroom they found Cloud standing in front of the sink, his face covered in foam.

"Morning you two," he said while looking at them through the mirror, doing a little double-take when his eyes fell on Marlene. "What happened?"

"We tried to make some pancakes for you guys," Marlene replied.

"Huh." Cloud put the razor in his hand against his cheek and stroked down, then cleaned the blade in the water. "I was wondering what that shout was all about..."

"We managed to make the batter!" Denzel exclaimed with a little proud puff in his chest despite only handing Marlene stuff.

Cloud repeated the motion on another spot of his face. "I'll try some when they're done! Just let me finish here real quick, then I'll be out of your hair."

They watched as he carefully and precisely shaved himself, something that fascinated Marlene quite a bit. Would Denzel have to do that too one day? Just like Cloud and her papa?

It didn't take long for Cloud to be done, and after washing off the excess foam from his face he turned around to have them.

"All yours," he said with a little quirk of his lip and headed out of the bathroom.

After washing themselves sufficiently, the two kids went back into their room to get changed before heading back downstairs where they found Cloud sitting at one of the tables, a stack of pancakes in front of him, while Tifa was currently making the batter for a second helping.

"Sit down," Tifa said with a smile. "I'll have these whipped up in no time!"

With a spring in her step, Marlene headed over to sit down opposite of Cloud, Denzel taking the place next to her.

"Someone's excited," Cloud remarked while taking a sip of his orange juice, a note of teasing in his voice.

"Where are we going today!?" Denzel asked eagerly.

"Now why should I tell you that?"

"Aww come on. Pretty please?" Marlene clasped her hands together and did her best to look absolutely adorable.

Cloud cocked an eyebrow. "With a cherry on top?"

"If that gets you to tell us, sure!"

Behind the counter, Tifa snorted back a laugh, coming out a little snicker instead.

"Fair enough," Cloud chuckled and put his cup down on the table. "I was thinking we could take a little trip out towards Kalm. Rent a car for the day."

"A trip?" Denzel asked, frowning a little. "So a picnic?"

"Hmm...no." Cloud shook his head. His lips quirked into a little smirk and he took the cutlery resting next to his plate. "I was actually thinking more of visiting that traveling fair stopping near Kalm and—"

"A fair!?" both kids exclaimed at the same time.

"We're really going to a fair?" Marlene asked right after.

"Yup," Cloud replied, cutting a sizable piece of pancake and putting it in his mouth.

A crunch echoed through the room as he bit down.

* * *

Marlene's eyes were wide in awe as she took in their surroundings; it was like she was stepping into another world. Everywhere she looked was something that caught her eye, be it stalls or rides. The smell of greasy fried foods pervaded the air.

All around them other people, couples and families, walked around, having fun and enjoying themselves.

Denzel's reaction was a little bit more subdued, but he too held excitement in his eyes. He had told her that his parents had once taken him to the Gold Saucer when he was younger, and though he couldn't fully remember it what he _did_ remember was that he had boatloads of fun.

"What should we do first?" she asked excitedly. "Oh, oh! How about this one!?"

She pointed at a huge circular ride, holding twelve little gondolas where four people could fit into while it was starting to spin around and gaining momentum fast.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Cloud said from behind him, a weird little chuckle escaping him. "You need to be a little taller for this one."

After he told her that, Marlene spotted the sign showing the minimum size of a person that wanted to get on the rise and visibly deflated. But she cheered up quickly enough and pointed towards another ride instead.

Unbeknownst to her, Cloud released a relieved sigh.

Marlene ran up ahead a little, a huge grin splitting her face. She was a bit sad that Papa wasn't here, but she knew he would want her to have fun.

"Denzel!" she turned towards him, the commanding tone of her voice making him jump a little and almost stand to attention.

"Y-yes?"

She pointed at a nearby ride, where multiple vehicles drove around an enclosed arena. "What's that?"

Denzel followed her hand. "Bumper cars."

"Let's ride one!"

"Okay!" he grinned.

"Picked something?" Tifa asked as she and Cloud caught up to them.

"Uh-huh!"

As the four of them came to stop in front of the small arena, Cloud went to get them some tokens while Tifa and the kids watched the current round.

"So you drive around and just bump into each other?" Marlene asked, while watching two kids blocking off the car of their friends by driving right into them.

"Yup, it's pretty fun! Ah—" he jogged towards Cloud as he returned from paying. "Let's ride together, Cloud!"

Cloud put a hand on his hip, letting out an amused huff. "Sure, but only if I get to drive."

"Yes!" the boy jumped up and down.

"Guess it's us girls then," Tifa said with a playful sigh, before patting Marlene's shoulder. "I'll let you have the honors."

Marlene turned to look Tifa in the eye, a huge grin forming on her lips.

Once it was their turn, she immediately jumped behind the wheel, bouncing up and down in her seat while Tifa was much more relaxed about the whole thing and calmly sat down next to her.

One car over the boys took their seats as well, Denzel grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of just having silly fun with Cloud.

"It's pretty simple," Tifa explained to her. "Just step on the pedal and use the wheel to steer."

"Got it!"

As soon as the cars were activated, Marlene slammed her foot down, causing them to jerk forward violently. Her foot slipped from the pedal, and the car came to an abrupt stop.

"Whoa!" Tifa exclaimed, grabbing onto the side of the car.

"Sorry," Marlene said, cheeks growing pink in embarrassment.

"Don't worry. It's your first time after all."

"Yeah, no master driver ever fell from the sky," she heard Cloud say as he casually drove past them. He did so with such ease that it made Marlene want to wipe the little smirk off his face.

She felt a calming hand being placed on her shoulder shortly followed by Tifa leaning closer. "Let's try again. Put your hands on the wheel and your foot on the pedal–yes just like that! And now nice and easy..."

Taking a deep breath, Marlene slowly pushed her foot down and this time the car slowly drove off.

"Great job!"

The grin returned to her face, as did her confidence, and she started to speed up once more, eyes coming to focus on the guys' car. She trailed after them like a shark hunting its prey, turning where they turned, dodging where they dodged; nothing letting her deter from that one, ultimate goal...

Then, when Cloud turned the car to the left once more, she struck!

Their cars collided, shaking all four of them in their seats. Next to her, Tifa laughed at the look that Cloud was giving her.

"I think you made her mad!"

Narrowing her eyes, Marlene pointed at her eyes, then at Cloud, before bringing the bumper car around and driving off.

That was, of course, something neither of the guys could stand for. So revenge came swift and decisive.

And thus war broke out.

They bumped and crashed, neither side willing to give up, and no one else was permitted to interfere in this almost vicious family dispute; lest it would be _their_ blood that was spilled.

But in the end, there was only one victor in a bloody war like this: the owner of the attraction.

After their tokens were spent and tempers cooled down again, the four of them searched for the next ride, with Marlene leading the way.

It didn't take long for her to find something else that caught her eye. A huge swing that looked like a ship.

"I want to ride that one!" she said while pointing at it.

Cloud pursed his lips as he looked at it. "You sure?"

"Uh-huh!" Marlene nodded.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, tapping one foot while looking at the ship, frown creasing his brows. "I dunno..."

"Aww, come on!"

After a few more taps of his foot, Cloud released a sigh and dropped his arms back to his side. "...Fine. Can't be that bad."

But it was.

It had started out slow, nothing spectacular, but the swing would soon enough speed up. While Denzel and Marlene were having the time of their life Cloud, who was nestled at the right side of their seat row, grew paler as the seconds passed. By the time the ship did its first loop it was pretty much all over for him.

What had to be commended though was the fact that he held out and powered through until the very end, before his breakfast started to resurface once again.

"Are you okay?" Marlene asked as he leaned over a trashcan while producing sounds that made her stomach feel a little squeezy. Next to her, Denzel was starting to go a little green around the nose as well.

"There there, just let it all out," Tifa murmured while rubbing his back. Turning her attention towards the kids, she gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, this might take a moment. Why don't you two go on another ride in the meantime?"

Her other hand went to the purse hanging at her side and pulled out a few Gil that she handed them.

"Alright," Marlene said and took Denzel's hand, leading him away from the sorry sight of Cloud as he puked his guts out.

"I have some tranquilizer with me, that should help," she heard Tifa say before they were out of earshot.

"So where should we go?" Denzel asked, having regained some proper color again.

"Hmm, how about that?" Marlene pointed towards a Chocobo themed carousel.

"Sure. I'll take the green one!" Denzel said and dashed towards it.

"Wha—Hey, no fair! I want to ride the green one!" she called after him.

In the end, they took turns, since Tifa had given them enough money for multiple rides and then some, leaving them both as well as the owner of the carousel more than satisfied.

Afterwards, the two kids went to get themselves some cotton candy before going back to where they had left Cloud and Tifa.

They found them sitting on a bench, water bottles next to them, talking and smiling. From what Marlene could see he was already looking much better than before. She was about to call out to them when she noticed something peculiar: Tifa's hand moving between them to come to rest on top of his, and her head turning in the way she always did when the three of them had first moved in together; when it was Cloud that always kept the sadness away.

Marlene covered Denzel's mouth before he could say something, shushing him and pulling him away to hide behind a nearby stall.

"Look, they're having a moment," Marlene said to him in a lowered voice.

"Ooooh."

They both moved to peek at them from behind the corner, using their cotton candy to obscure their faces even further.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Denzel asked. Cloud's smile had grown a little wider as he said something that made Tifa bite her lip and nod.

"Probably something super romantic!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah. There, look!" she grabbed Denzel's shirt and pulled him closer.

"I'm looking!"

In front of them, Tifa let out a little laugh, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and scooting closer before Cloud brought his hand up to tilt her head just enough to make it easier for him to dip down and capture her lips with his own.

"Whoa..." both children exclaimed at the same time.

Even when it was just still the three of them, Marlene had rarely seen them this affectionate, and not at all anymore when things had gotten bad, so seeing them like this made her want to squeal in joy.

Which she promptly did. And loud enough for the two adults, and any passer-by, to take notice of them.

Breaking their kiss, the two adults turned their heads to the source of the noise and immediately spotted them. With a visible sigh and a shake of his head, Cloud waved them over.

"Did you two have fun?" he asked them while Tifa separated herself from him.

"Yup!" Marlene with a huge on her face, not even the least bit sorry where Denzel at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

"Uh...want some cotton candy?" the boy asked, holding the sugary cloud of blue raspberry out towards them.

"No thanks," Cloud said, a pained look ghosting over his face as Tifa reached out to pull a small chunk out of it and put it into her mouth. He regained his composure quickly enough and rose to his feet. "Alright, let's go."

Marlene blinked. "To where?"

But he only gave her a little smirk and started walking instead. The four of them walked for a bit until Cloud had apparently found what he was looking for.

A shooting game.

Marlene's eyes grew wide at the wide array of prizes that were offered.

"Wanna try yer luck?" the owner, an older man, asked him.

"Yeah. Just hit the moving targets, right?" Cloud asked in turn while handing over some Gil.

"Right yer are." He was handed an air rifle.

The targets in question were five rows of Cactuars, alternating between left and right. Cloud raised the rifle and aimed at the lowest row, eyes focusing on the moving little plant monsters while counting under his breath.

He inhaled sharply, and shot!

Hitting a beaten up silver Cactuar and knocking it over.

Marlene clapped her hands excitingly while Denzel jumped up and down.

"Not bad. Let's see if ya can hit the rest," the owner said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

The corners of Cloud's lips rose into a smirk and he took aim at the next row, repeating what he had done just now. With the same result; a felled Cactuar.

Same with the next one, and the one after, until he had managed to shoot one in each row.

"That was so cool!" Denzel exclaimed as he exchanged a high five with Cloud.

"Didn't expect any different from someone that served," the owner said with a chuckle as he took the rifle once more.

"You could tell?" Cloud asked.

"Sonny, if it weren't yer eyes then your posture would've given you away. I served in Wutai, I know a military man when I see one. So—" the man pointed to the wall on the right. "Five o' them gets ya a pick from any of those."

Cloud looked over the prizes, then pointed at one in particular. "That one."

"Alright, here ya go." Once he had received the plush toy in question, Cloud turned around to face Tifa, whose eyes went wide as he handed her the cute plush dolphin.

"I—Oh Cloud, thank you!" Tifa said, cheeks growing a little pink as she hugged it to her. With a smile, she took a step forward and planted a kiss against his cheek.

"Want another go?" the owner asked after Tifa had taken a step back again.

"Sure," Cloud replied and pulled out some more Gil. After he was given the rifle, he looked at Denzel and Marlene. "Any wishes."

"Hmm." Marlene hummed as her eyes scanned the prizes, before pointing at the largest plushy there was. "I want that one!"

"Ah, that's the grand prize. For that he needs to hit all of these," the owner said to her and moved closer to the Cactuars, pointing at the ones whose colorization differed from the rest of them. He grinned, his eyes going back to Cloud. "How about it, feelin' up to it?"

A smirk was Cloud's only reply.

* * *

"Today was amazing!" Marlene exclaimed as the four of them entered 7th Heaven, the almost too large for her Tonberry plush held in both of her hands. She walked towards the bar and placed it on one of the stools, before turning around on her heels with a huge grin.

"Glad you liked it," Cloud said with a chuckle as Denzel slipped past him with the toy sword he had won at a different stall slung onto his back.

"Can we do it again soon?"

A frown formed on Cloud's face. "The fair's not gonna be there for much longer..."

"Oh." Marlene deflated a little. He walked towards her and knelt down in front of her, placing his hand on her head and gently rubbing her hair.

"But don't worry, I'll think of something else fun that we can do on my next day off," he said with a smile that Marlene mirrored with a bright one of her own. "Now why don't you go and show Mr. Doink your room?"

"Mr. Doink?" Marlene asked, bursting into giggles.

"Believe me, it'll make sense." He patted her head one final time, before rising back to his feet. Still high on the excitement of today, the kids headed upstairs, once again ignoring the no running rule that had been established.

A kiss against his cheek made Cloud turn towards Tifa, who was looking at him with a smile that reached her eyes. "Thanks for doing this."

"It's only normal for a family to spend time together, isn't it?" he asked, his eyes dropping down to the floor, feeling very bashful all of a sudden.

"Mmh." Tifa nodded. "Still, the kids had fun today. _We_ had fun today."

Cloud chuckled. "We did."

The tone in her voice on a teasing note as she raised the little dolphin next to her face, "now where should we put this little guy?"

"I dunno." Cloud shrugged. "The bedroom?"

"Hmm...no."

"Why?" he asked, confusion creasing his brow.

"We wouldn't want to give the little fella a scare on his first night home," she said while brushing past Cloud, bumping her behind against him as she did so, followed by a small wink. "Would we?"

With that she walked behind the bar and up the stairs, adding some additional swing to her hips as she did so.

Yes, this really should become a regular thing.


End file.
